For a year defined by videoconferencing, our smart displays have not been able to keep up as a worthy companion — mostly because the apps either aren't there or aren't very good. But there's a giant improvement due for the cross-section of Nest Hub Max owners and Google Meet users and even bigger news for those on Zoom.
Zoom is now available through the Nest Preview Program to Hub Max owners in Australia, Canada, the U.K., and U.S.
If you're interested in participating, you can open up the Google Home app, tap on the Nest Hub Max, then Settings, and then, as it is made available, Preview Program. You should also make sure that your Zoom login is linked up with your Google account.
You'll then be able to put Zoom meeting IDs into events on your Google Calendar and then say "Hey Google, join my next meeting" to get into them. You can also say "Hey Google, start a Zoom call."
Nest Hub Max owners who are also part of a paid Google Workspace or G Suite team can take advantage of a new set of features which includes a call clock, caller nameplates, a 2x2 grid view, an overflow caller list, and the ability to tap and pin callers into view — many of which arguably should've come standard in the initial beta.
Google is also promoting its Google Wifi and Nest Wifi mesh router systems, reminding users that they auto-prioritize throughput for Meet and Zoom calls.